Vice President JD Vance met face-to-face for the first time with Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky on Friday, as they began negotiating what could forge a long-lasting peace between Kyiv and Russia.

The vice president said the conversation was “fruitful” and that he wants to “achieve a durable, lasting peace” in Europe — without revealing any specifics after having hinted at the use of economic and military interventions.

“We want the killing to stop,” Vance affirmed.

Zelensky said hoped “to speak more” with the vice president in the future about “how to stop” Russian Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

“We want this very much,” Ukraine’s leader added.

Vance was joined at the negotiating table by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg.

The talks seemed to eased some tensions between the two after the Ukrainian leader had labeled Vance “too radical” in an interview with The New Yorker last September.

Both President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had already set some parameters for the discussion earlier in the week, when they suggested that it was unlikely Ukraine would return to its pre-2014 borders with Russia or become a member of NATO.

“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine,” Hegseth said during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels. “But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective.

Vance had previously been critical of the US supplying further military and economic aid to Ukraine, but was the one tasked with meeting Zelensky — just after Trump and Secretary of State Pete Hegseth both said they didn’t see Ukraine being a part of NATO.

But Vance, before meeting Zelensky, told the Wall Street Journal he wasn’t ruling out economic or military interventions against Russia, including the presence of US troops, if it didn’t negotiate — going further than Trump’s guarantees. He subsequently refuted the article.

“The fact that the WSJ twisted my words in the way they did for this story is absurd, but not surprising considering they have spent years pushing for more American sons and daughters in uniform to be unnecessarily deployed overseas,” the VP tweeted.

“President Trump is the ultimate deal maker and will bring peace to the region by ending the war in Ukraine. As we’ve always said, American troops should never be put into harm’s way where it doesn’t advance American interests and security,” he also said. “This war is between Russia and Ukraine.”

The Journal released the interview transcript indicating he said that “everything is on the table”  when asked about whether “the presence of U.S. troops in Ukraine is not officially off the table.”

But Vance couched the statement by deferring to Trump, saying, “the president is very clear that whenever he walks into negotiation, everything is on the table” — and Trump generally condemns direct US military involvement in foreign conflicts.

Zelensky, meanwhile, said he agreed with Vance about wanting to end the war, but that Ukraine will need “real security guarantees.”

The Ukrainian president has previously said he would want Ukraine to either be a part of NATO or have nuclear weapons.

Trump spoke with Putin and Zelensky in separate phone conversations on Wednesday, revealing for the first time the contents of his conversations with Putin. 

He also told reporters he anticipates a meeting with the Russian president soon, likely in Saudi Arabia, and that he wants negotiations to begin “immediately” between US and Russian counterparts to end the war.

Trump has not said exactly what he will ask Zelensky and Putin to give up in negotiations, but said this week he doesn’t see Ukraine being in NATO — one request made by Zelensky — as “realistic.”

The president is also sending Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine to discuss getting billions worth of rare-earth minerals from Ukraine in exchange for continued security. 

Vance expressed optimism with the negotiating team, led by Rubio and Kellogg, saying “it’s important for us to get together and start to have the conversations.”